Thoughts on Latin (2 Viewers)

[Kurosaki]

What were your thoughts on this year's Latin exam?

 

[mreditor16]

Thanks Kurosaki for starting the thread. Will post real soon

 

[robtob]

I swear I'm getting a band 4/5 with this performance...

 

[mreditor16]

Okay, so here are my thoughts:

On the whole, quite a tough exam.

So, first up, Section 1 - Livy.

Seen translation was straightforward. Then, grammar analysis threw up a few nasties, but after checking my answers with other students, I think I have confirmed the correct answers:

Q1. D Q2. A Q3. C Q4. B Q5. C Q6. B Q7. C

those are my own answers and I got these confirmed by a few other studentd. But, I am not 100% sure, so don't hesitate to tell me otherwise for any of them.

Then, short answer was okay-ish. for i), I said that 1000 pounds of gold was paid to the Gauls to end the siege. for ii), I answered "populi gentibus mox imperaturi". pretty sure they're right, but again please tell me if I'm wrong.

for iii), I BSed somewhat and talked about the dishonest weights and the adding of the sword. not sure though.

and for b), I just rambled, and imo there was limited stylistic devices in the extract to refer to, so it meant there was not much to talk about for the allocated 5 marks. it was a thing that annoyed me across the paper - I constantly felt like there was not enough to talk about considering the number of marks the question was out of. so in a lot of the comment Qs, i don't think i will score the marks for a lot of them, because i didn't talk about enough things (i.e. have enough substance). :/

now, moving to the 10-mark essay, that is the most stupidest essay Q I have ever seen - the Plebs! no-one cares about the Plebs! besides, Livy talks so little about the Plebs, so I know nothing about them. I literally BSed the whole essay - I argued that Livy dehumanises the plebs or some shit like that. and talked about how the plebs are portrayed as annoying brats. etc. just BSed the hell out of it. i am very interested to hear what other people wrote, because i have no idea what could be talked about

okay moving to Section 2 - Virgil

Again, seen translation was straightforward. Grammar was okay, here are my answers (again, confirmed by a few people and if you disagree, I'd love to discuss ) -

Q1. C Q2. A (this was a nasty - it is a jussive subjunctive and principal clauses that use the jussive are called command clauses according to my teacher) Q3. B Q4. A Q5. C Q6. D Q7. B

moving to short answer, it was better than the one for livy, but still felt so dodgy.

I BSed a) - I said Aeneas was fighting.... is that enough?? :O

for b), i got

line 705 --> spondee, dactyl (with elision), dactyl, spondee (with caesura and then elision), dactyl, trochee

line 706 --> dactyl, spondee (with elision), spondee (with caesura), spondee, dactyl (the i is consonantal), trochee

pretty sure those are right. again, any problems - would love to discuss.

for c) and d), there was just enough to talk about - but i wasn't sophisticated enough so idk :/

for the 10 marker, it was a decent Q - although had to BS quite a bit, again. basically talked about Turnus finally experiencing his tragic downfall and his death as what enabled for Rome to come into existence. again, as i say, bullcrapped quite a bit.

and finally UNSEENS

similar to extension, I largely gg'ed unseens - I had no idea what was going on. I think I did slightly better than Extension though, but i think everyone did lol - so it's not going to help. i think i scored a a few marks on the grammar Qs by guessing. haha I'm not even going to take a look at online translations to see how close (or not) I was. haha

these are my answers for the grammar Questions, I'm not sure about these at all, so idk :/ --

Virgil

a) pluperfect (by mistake, I wrote down future in the exam)
b) Polydorum
c) passive infinitive
d) indicative clause
e) vocative

Livy

a) dative (derped in the exam and put genitive)
b) imperative
c) est (completely guessed)
d) command clause - jussive (again a complete guess)
e) visum (and yet another guess)

-----------------------------

So in summary, a hard paper but I did decent. Think I'm looking at high band 5 or low band 6. I failed unseens so badly :/ Interested to hear how you guys went!

 

[Chatoyance]

Just looked up unseens. Gg.

 

[robtob]

Livy c) was es, he's accusing her of being unpatriotic as she's forgotten her brothers both dead and living or something like that, Romans were weird in that they killed their sisters for crying

 

[Kurosaki]

now, moving to the 10-mark essay, that is the most stupidest essay Q I have ever seen - the Plebs! no-one cares about the Plebs! besides, Livy talks so little about the Plebs, so I know nothing about them. I literally BSed the whole essay - I argued that Livy dehumanises the plebs or some shit like that. and talked about how the plebs are portrayed as annoying brats. etc. just BSed the hell out of it. i am very interested to hear what other people wrote, because i have no idea what could be talked about

rofl; good to see your English skills being used productively ^__^.

 

[pineapplewarrior]

why school are you fellas from?

 

[mreditor16]

bump

 

[mreditor16]

bumpity bump

 

[pineapplewarrior]

what does the top person in your school for latin usually get for his/her exams percentage wise?

 

[mreditor16]

what does the top person in your school for latin usually get for his/her exams percentage wise?

Our internal exams are quite easy compared to real HSC, especially to unseens.

Anyway the top person usually gets like high 90s.

but I wouldn't use this as an indicator of any sorts.

 

[pineapplewarrior]

ah okay, can anyone verify the scansions btw

 

[Chatoyance]

ah okay, can anyone verify the scansions btw

I have the same answer as mreditor if that helps.

 

[mreditor16]

I have the same answer as mreditor if that helps.

yay!